Anyone know why some black crappie have black vertical bar on the eyes?
On some lakes its almost all the blacks, other lakes its a mix of both regular eye no bar and with bars
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Anyone know why some black crappie have black vertical bar on the eyes?
On some lakes its almost all the blacks, other lakes its a mix of both regular eye no bar and with bars
Interesting to say the least
Not sure I’ve seen that or paid any attention to it
Did they also have a black stripe on their back?
Not that I’ve seen. Barren had more of these than I’ve seen anywhere elseQuote:
Originally Posted by justinp61
Attachment 475395All the fish i caught on Cedar today had those bars but they were deep in 30 feet of water. Don't know if that had anything to do with it or not.
I have caught them deep and shallow both. Fished Old Hickory this week for the first time and caught a few there with the bar on their eyes
If you Google "crappie eyes" and click on "Images", you'll see that the vertical bars on the eyes may not be all that uncommon (with even some pics of White Crappie with the black bar in the eyes).
I "kinda" remember seeing some Crappie with that bar, but never thought much about it.
Wonder if our esteemed KDFWR biologists have an explanation ??
I have written KDFWR .... will update the post when I get a replyQuote:
Originally Posted by CrappiePappy
After the fish spend a couple hours in the live well it was gone. The one i took a picture of was a White crappie the rest were blacks.
Snail Mail ?? :yikes ..... no, no, no nonono send them a email : [email protected]Quote:
Originally Posted by colayn
Now that you say it, I have noticed that bar too but never really thought about it. Here is a couple of whites in the mix with what I caught last week, all were 3 to 4 ft down in 6 to 8 fow on my river. The picture isn’t the best to be looking at the eyes but you can definitely see the bar on the black and not on the whites
Attachment 475478
Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com
Those with the bars in their eyes are blind that is why we are able to catch them if they could see they would flee. Ha Ha
[emoji23] I sure feel like it is like that sometimesQuote:
Originally Posted by RL56
Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com
Here’s what is received from KDFWRQuote:
Originally Posted by colayn
The dark vertical bar through the eye is a general characteristic of both species of crappie, but the intensity of the dark pigment can vary depending on water clarity and perhaps other factors as well (e.g., water chemistry, temperature, light, etc.), as Eric suggested. I have noticed that fish taken in clear or darkly stained water are more boldly marked with dark pigment (vertical bars and mottling), whereas ones taken from turbid or muddy water are more pale or washed out.
Overall color and pigment patterns are determined by the animal's environment and behavior. The dark vertical eye bar of the crappies may be used for visual signaling between individuals (e.g., for schooling) and it may serve as camouflage by presenting a disruptive pattern along with the irregular vertical bars and mottling on the body and fins.
Other members of the sunfish family such as the Flier and Rock Bass also have a dark vertical bar through the eye. An old published study by Barlow (1972) showed that vertical eye-lines (bars) are often associated with fish having deep bodies and steep foreheads that swim up in the water column and turn sharply (e.g., crappies and other sunfish), whereas horizontal lines are characteristic of more long, slender bodied fish with low foreheads that are often bottom-dwellers (e.g., sculpins).
I emailed them and have posted the reply on the threadQuote:
Originally Posted by CrappiePappy
Not sure if it notified you or not
Yep ... read it & thanked you for it :checkQuote:
Originally Posted by colayn